Sneaky Seductress
by Dolphingirl32173
Summary: He gets drunk often and always winds up on her doorstep. And he always wakes up the next morning in her bed with her, having no memory of what happened after she let him into her home. What's a poor Jounin to do? KakaSaku ON HAITUS!
1. Drunken Love

Sneaky Seductress

DG32173

Sarah: well, this is gonna be an M-rated fanfic that I recommend you to leave if you are not ready for major lemonade and limeade material. Other than that, I hope you enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: My name is not Masashi Kishimoto. Thusly, I don't own the Naruto series.

_**!!!WATNINGS!!!**_

LOTS OF SMUT, cursing, killing, blood, gore, etc. Do _**not**_ read if you cannot handle the above content in multitudes. You have been warned.

_**SUMMARY**_

He gets drunk often and always winds up on her doorstep. And he always wakes up the next morning in her bed with her, having no memory of what happened after she let him into her home. What's a poor Jounin to do? **(Kaka/Saku)**

_**NOTE**_  
**(Authors note)  
**"Talking"  
'Thinking'  
Scene change  
**POV change  
**_Memory, reading or writing something, etc._ _**(you'll figure it out)  
**__"Singing"  
__Scene change in memory_

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

Kunoichi: female shinobi

–sensei: a teacher

Shinobi: ninja

–shishou: a teacher of a higher level than a sensei

* * *

Chapter 1

Drunken Love

Jade green eyes watch intently as a silver-haired man across the room downs his fourth bottle of sake. 'Almost there. Heh, tonight will be fun. He just ordered two more bottles,' the female owner of the jade eyes thinks. 'Thank Kami-sama Tsunade-shishou got me drunk so much that I'm almost immune to liquor. I love these nights; and I love remembering them even when I make sure he doesn't,' her thoughts continue as she takes a swallow from her whiskey bottle. 'Ah, he's leaving; six bottles of sake, we're going to have fun tonight. I better hurry and get home before he reaches my apartment.' With that thought, a pink-haired, jade-eyed kunoichi flickers out of sight, leaving money for her drinks and a tip.

Fifteen minutes later

"Kakashi-kun?" Sakura asks in false surprise. He gives her a lecherous grin and she smirks back. "Come in."

He enters her apartment, closing and locking the door behind him. "Sakura-chan," he purrs. Taking in her long t-shirt, he notes that it is the only article of clothing she is wearing. Without another word, he tears off his mask and throws it somewhere in the living room. He glides towards her, captures her around the waist, and slams his lips onto hers, using his tongue to force her willing lips apart, thus deepening the kiss.

She sighs happily and presses her body flush against his, wrapping her arms around his neck. Their bodies line up perfectly with each others, like a hand into a well-worn glove.

He picks her up, her petite legs wrapping around his muscular waist as he carries her down the hall to her bedroom, never once breaking from the passionate kiss. He closes and locks the bedroom door, holding her up and against him with his left arm.

They quickly rid each other of all their clothes. Then he tumbles her into bed, using his elbow to support some of his weight so as not to hurt her; he tangles that hand in her hair while the other roams across her naked, silky skin. He slams his lips back against hers. But this time his lips trail from hers, up her jaw line, down her neck to the crook of her shoulder and neck, leaving harsh, fiery kisses in his wake.

At the base of her neck, he stops long enough to leave a hickey before trailing his lips down to her breasts. He takes first the left nipple into his mouth, sucking and nibbling at it in ways that makes her moan his name. He messages her right breast with his hand while his mouth takes care of her left; then he swaps the treatments, making sure to give both breasts equal shares.

Then he moves his lips down to her naval, swirling his tongue around it. She moans his name again as his lips trail down to _that_ place. He sticks first one finger in, then a second and a third. Her hands clutches the bed sheets in bliss as his fingers pump in and out of her. He replaces his fingers with his tongue as she nears the first peak of pleasure. He laps up her sweet nectar from her first orgasm of the night. As soon as he licked her dry, he pulls his tongue out and slams his lips against hers as he slams his erect manhood inside her. She screams his name into his mouth as they both orgasm together, his seed spilling forth into her. Then they build up their pleasure again and again late into the night.

They have been having sex together for over a year and a half. It started when she helped him to her apartment for the night since he was sloshed and she didn't know where he lived. One thing led to another and soon they found themselves in her bed, making love together for the first time. It had been her first ever, and a drunken Kakashi helped her through it.

And they've been having sex every night he got drunk since. But she uses a forbidden jutsu Tsunade taught her to make sure he doesn't remember the numerous sex sessions. And he won't remember until she either dies or decides to tell him. And she's certain neither will happen for several more years. Because when he finds out, she's certain that will end their affair for good; and that's something she doesn't want to happen. She has fallen in love with her ex-sensei.

But she can't stop him from trying to guess it the mornings after. By the time they are done having sex for the night, she's too tired to try and dress either of them.. But she never affirms his suspicions. And thankfully, he usually leaves before she wakes up. He would _never_ bring up the topic out in public and she does her damnedest to keep from being alone with him when he's sober. So far, it has worked rather welll. But she knows that luck will eventually turn against her, and she'd have to let him know one day. Ever since that first night together, she has been taking birth control pills to prevent herself from becoming pregnant with his child. That wouldn't do at all; she'd probably die of humiliation before she gets up the nerve to tell him.

* * *

Sarah: well, I'll end it there. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. **(grins)** I know I enjoyed writing it. Later all. 


	2. Cornered or Not

Sneaky Seductress

DG32173

Sarah: so very sorry about the long delay in updating. Here's chapter 2. I'm altering this from what I had handwritten before, as what I wrote before moved a bit too fast for my tastes. I hope you enjoy. I don't own the Naruto series.

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_My only request is not to rush the love scenes and add more detail._ --- **(laughs)** it was rushed because he's inebriated and often changes the tempo of the sex sessions, never letting her get used to any one speed. The scenes will eventually become more passionate and far less rushed as they transfer into a sober relationship rather than one in which he is drunk.

_**(drops head in shame for having a dirty, dirty mind)**_ --- Oh, don't be so embarrassed. We all have dirty minds to some extent or another; some people just hide it better than others. And when reading such about such sexy love-making, then the dirty minds come forward and drop on you like a ton of bricks; only a lot less painful.

_Hey, who doesn't like a little lemon every now and then?_ --- Good question. I don't think there is anyone in the world who can say that they do not like lemons one bit. After all, love-making in real life is lemony, and almost everyone does that at some point in their lives.

_**NOTE**_  
**(Authors note)  
**"Talking"  
'Thinking'  
Scene change  
**POV change  
**_Memory, reading or writing something, etc._ _**(you'll figure it out)  
**__"Singing"  
__Scene change in memory_

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

_Kami:_ God, Lord

_Shishou:_ teacher

_Sunagakure:_ the name of the Hidden Sand Village

* * *

Chapter 2

Cornered… or not

Kakashi inwardly sighs as the now familiar cherry blossoms and roses scent assaults his nose. 'Again in her bed,' he thinks, trying to remember what happened last night. But it's a big blank from entering Sakura's apartment to waking up in her bed. Just like the innumerable other nights from the past year and a half.

He knows without checking that both he and Sakura are without clothing and his face mask is somewhere in the apartment outside of the bedroom. He sighs; he wishes he could remember what happened in any of the nights that are a blank to him. He has a guess, but can't seem to get Sakura alone so he can confirm it. He isn't gonna ask her in front of other people; it'd be too embarrassing, for both of them.

His gaze softens as he watches her sleeping face, thinking that she looks like an angel when asleep. Despite being against his morals, he prays his guess is right. He fell head-over-heals in love with her at first sight when they first met in that classroom, over eleven years ago. She is now twenty-three, like the rest of the rookie nine, as they _still_ call themselves. And he's thirty-seven, fourteen years her senior. To top it off, she was his student formerly; a relationship between them would be taboo in most eyes.

The only people who know of his feelings for the pink-haired kunoichi are Tsunade and Naruto. Both urge him to tell her, but he refuses. After all, it'd ruin his reputation of being uninterested in intimate relationships. More importantly, what will their fellow villagers, the people in other hidden villages, and her parents think? What will _she_ think of him?

He sighs, deciding he should dress and leave before the streets get very crowded or she wakes up. But first, something for his nasty hangover.

Before he gets up, he places a feather-light kiss on her forehead. Then he gets out of her bed, careful not to shake her awake. He locates his clothes and dresses quickly but silently. He goes into her bathroom to locate her hangover remedy, once he takes two pills, he slips out of her room, shutting the door silently. He then searches for his mask, soon finding it on her navy blue recliner in her living room. Putting it on, he slips out of her apartment, grateful that she has no neighbors to see him leave.

Twenty minutes later finds him in his own apartment, laying on his bed and daydreaming about Sakura. Daydreaming about what life would be like if she would be waking up in his bed for the rest of their lives.

Two hours later, Sakura's apartment

Sakura opens her eyes and sighs when she sees what she expected but hoped wouldn't be. Kakashi is gone, as always. She wishes he'd stay one morning and _ask_ her what happened the night before. She'd tell him in an instant if that happened.

But her wish has yet to come true. She sighs again and gets up, gathering her clothes from yesterday and a fresh set. Then she goes to her bathroom and takes a shower. As she showers, she daydreams about what it would be like to be with Kakashi, to wake up in his bed, to make love with him when he's sober. But she doesn't dare tell him of the events that happen on the nights he gets drunk. After having her heart broken time and again by Sasuke, she fears rejection above anything else in the world; and she's almost certain that Kakashi will reject her love. She's just his former student and a good friend in his eyes, or so she believes.

After about thirty minutes of daydreaming, she realizes that she has run out of hot water and is now being rained upon by ice cold water droplets. She turns off the water and gets out of the shower to get dressed. Tsunade wanted her to come in because the Sanin has a solo A-class mission for her. She pulls on a pair of black shorts, a black vest over a red tank top, and her new gloves. She slips into her Jounin vest, puts on her well-worn traveling boots, grabs her keys, and leaves her apartment, locking up behind her.

When she's about a block away from the Hokage Tower, she bumps into Kakashi on a back road. She's taking the back roads because there's a festival going on that's clogging up the main streets and it will take her longer to reach the Tower if she tried to push through. "Sakura-chan?" he says in surprise.

She smiles sweetly at him, hiding her inner panic. Is he going to ask her about what happens the nights he gets drunk? "Hey Kakashi-kun," she greets.

"I've been meaning to ask you some questions," he starts.

Shit. Thank Kami she has a valid excuse to make a quick departure. "I'm sorry, but I can't talk right now, Tsunade-shishou wants me to come in early because she has a mission for me," she says quickly.

"It won't take long," he insists.

Shit! Shit! Shit! "I'm sorry, but you know how Tsunade-shishou is when it comes to tardiness," she says, causing him to wince at the memory. Tsunade is very volatile when it comes to people coming in late, whether it's the perpetually late Kakashi or her own apprentice Sakura. Sakura checks her watch and winces. "She wants me there in less than five minutes, so I better hurry. Talk to you later, Kakashi-kun," she says, jogging in the direction of the Tower.

He watches her go, pissed that she managed to evade his questioning yet again. She has become very good at that in the past year and a half, almost as good as he himself is when it comes to questions he doesn't wish to answer. He doesn't follow to ask her the questions on the way to the Tower, as the streets she will be entering in a few moments are very crowded and he would never ask such questions when anyone else is around. It would be so very embarrassing for the both of them.

Two minutes later, Tsunade's Office

"You had a mission for me, Tsunade-shishou?" Sakura asks, sitting across from her teacher.

"I do in fact. I want you to take a very important letter to the Kazekage. It has some extremely important knowledge that's on a need-to-know basis, and you're one of the few I can completely trust on this. I would send a group, but that would attract more attention than we would like. There are people who would very much like to get their hands on this knowledge. Gaara will be sending another important letter back to me. I want you to guard the letters with everything in your ability. If you cannot, I want you to burn them before anyone else can get their hands on them," the Sanin says. "Will you accept this mission?"

Sakura thinks over the details she was just given, the likelihood of her getting attacked for the information, and the odds of the attackers being too strong together for her to handle. "I accept," she says finally. "When shall I leave?" she asks.

Tsunade smiles. "Now, if that's alright," she replies.

Sakura grins back. Now she won't have to face Kakashi for a while, not until she gets back at least. And she knows for a fact that he hasn't gotten drunk when she's away on a mission even once since their drunken affair started. "I'll go pack then leave," she says.

"Thank you Sakura," Tsunade says warmly, handing over the letter. "Be very careful on the trip to and from Sunagakure. I don't want anything to happen to you. Your life is far more important than any information."

Sakura blushes. "Tsunade-shishou! Quit being so sentimental, it definitely doesn't suit you," she admonishes as she carefully stores the letter in a hidden pocket on the inside of her Jounin vest.

Tsunade laughs. "Alright, now get going. The sooner you leave, the sooner you can get back."

Sakura laughs and leaves the Tower. This time, she doesn't meet Kakashi on the way back to her apartment, nor when she leaves the village. Grateful for this, she starts making her way to Suna.

* * *

Sarah: that's it for this chapter. Next chapter will skip forward a few days and take place during Sakura's trip back to Konoha. 


	3. Trouble

Sneaky Seductress

DG32173

Sarah: here's chapter 3. What happens is this chapter is most likely what many of you expected. I don't own the Naruto series or cast. Enjoy.

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_I'm not understanding everything …_ --- I'm sorry, but several of your questions can't be answered at this point. About Saku-chan making Kaka-kun forget the sex. Well, her number one fear above everything else in the world is rejection; she had her heart torn out and torn apart so many times by Sasuke that she doesn't dare try to start an actual relationship with anyone, much less Kakashi, the man she's fallen for. She doesn't want her heart to be torn out any more, rejection hurts. And about her not bothering to return him to his bed or dress him. Well, here's a simile I came up with: try jogging twenty-five miles, swimming twenty laps in a half-mile pool, and then getting on an exercise bike for an hour. Would you be able to dress anyone or move them very far after all that? Thought not. That's similar to how much energy a night of repetitive sex takes. Another question you asked is why doesn't Kakashi stay until she wakes up or shake her awake. Well, he doesn't want a lot of people see him walk out of Sakura's apartment. He will have a very hard time explaining it, especially since he doesn't remember what happened the night before. As for not knowing about the sexual fling between the two of them? Well, he has a guess of what happens, but he isn't completely positive. That's why he keeps trying to corner her and ask for an explanation when they are away from other people. I hope this explains enough to satisfy you for now. Everything else will come out in future chapters.

_I find that he fell head-over-heels in love with her when she was twelve creepy._ --- well, at least he didn't _act_ on those feelings until she was much older, ne?

_**NOTE**_  
**(Authors note)  
**"Talking"  
'Thinking'  
Scene change  
**POV change  
**_Memory, reading or writing something, etc._ _**(you'll figure it out)  
**__"Singing"  
__Scene change in memory_

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

* * *

Chapter 3

Trouble

Sakura glances around her cautiously. This mission has gone way too smoothly for her comfort. She's positive something will happen soon that will interrupt her return to Konoha. And she'll be on her guard to prepare for any trouble that might come up in the kilometer between her and Konoha's gate.

Just as she expected, about ten masked nin surround her. Anbu; and by the looks of the emblem on their hitai-ates, they're from the Hidden Grass Village. "Well, we have us a pretty little kunoichi here," one of them says. "We know you are carrying information from Suna to Konoha. Hand it over and you won't get hurt."

She sighs. Don't these people ever learn? The strength of a kunoichi can easily exceed her rank and looks. "You can take it from my dead body," she retorts.

"So be it," another says. At that, they all rush her. She ducks and dodges the Taijutsu techniques as best she can. But she still get's cuts from the kunai and bruises from the punches and kicks. She uses the formidable strength she inherited from Tsunade to permanently take out two of the Anbu.

The others learn quickly and leap away and start using Ninjutsu techniques. But they don't realize her strength can be used to attack them through the ground and not just from direct contact. She pulls her fist back and punches the ground, causing a large crater to appear and killing another Anbu with the turned up rocks and boulders.

Suddenly, one of the Anbu rushes up and leaves a deep cut in her right shoulder that goes all the way to her shoulder bone with an extraordinarily sharp katana only to leap away again. She winces in pain but continues to attack, this time with Ninjutsu techniques of her own. They hadn't realized she could still perform jutsu with the use of only one hand to make the signs for it. Soon, two more Anbu are dead, leaving five standing.

Sakura's reflexes are gradually getting slower due to the blood loss. The Anbu are quick to notice this and pull in for close contact fighting again. She hisses when another katana buries itself deep into her left thigh, also all the way to the bone. She ignores her pain and works hard to quickly get rid of these Anbu before she loses too much blood and faints or dies, leaving them with the information in their hands. Tsunade had trusted her to protect the letters; and by god, that's what she's gonna do.

After about another hour of fighting, all the Anbu are dead. Before she has a chance to find out who they are and what they wanted this information for, she has to leap back to avoid being caught in the small explosion that occurs with the last Anbu who fell. The explosion gets rid of all ten bodies. She knows the Anbu didn't have any explosives, or they would have used them. So she must assume that another Grass nin was hiding in the forest for the whole fight, incase this scenario occurred. She hisses in pain as her left foot is partially caught in the blast, breaking several bones and burning the foot. Before she has a chance to go after the last Grass nin, she senses him fleeing at top speed. In her condition, she can't hope to catch up, much less fight and defeat him

She does a quick count of the injuries she sustained during the fight: broken left foot, burns an that same foot, a wound that goes right down to her right shoulder bone, another similar wound in her left thigh, innumerable bruises, more cuts than she cares to count, a broken left wrist, and a possible concussion. Not bad considering she's just a Jounin who took on ten Anbu at once. She has to almost drag herself the rest of the way to the gates of Konoha, putting almost all her weight on her right leg and leaning heavily against trees to keep herself standing. Good thing it's only about twenty meters away. She doesn't think she'd make it if it were any further.

At the gate, she has to leave the trees that supported her and limp through said gate. The nin who are on guard duty there quickly catch her as she collapses from both blood loss and exhaustion. She barely manages to give them the letter to give to Tsunade before she falls unconscious. Two of the nin quickly take her and the letter towards the Hospital and Hokage Tower, which are right next to each other. There, they split up, one to carry her into the hospital so she can get the medical attention she desperately needs and the other to take the letter to Tsunade in the Tower with an explanation of what happened at the gate.

* * *

Sarah: well, that wasn't a very good encounter for Sakura. Will she survive? What will Tsunade do when she finds out just how bad a condition that her apprentice had returned in? What will _Kakashi_ do when he finds out she's back and nearly dead? Find out next time. REVIEW! I won't update if I don't get no reviews. 


	4. Comatose

Sneaky Seductress

DG32173

Sarah: here's chapter four. I don't own the Naruto series. Enjoy the chapter.

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

This isn't just about one question or comment really, it's just I'm gonna totally disappoint and anger some of you with this chapter. But please don't hate me for it, cause I had to do it for what I plan to happen in the future. I really didn't _want_ to do it, but I had to or the story won't be able to play out as I planned it to from the beginning.

_**NOTE**_  
**(Authors note)  
**"Talking"  
'Thinking'  
Scene change  
**POV change  
**_Memory, reading or writing something, etc._ _**(you'll figure it out)  
**__"Singing"  
__Scene change in memory_

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

_Kunoichi:_ female ninja

_Shinobi:_ ninja

* * *

Chapter 4

Comatose

"WHAT?!" a feminine voice screams so loudly all of Konoha hears it. Everyone looks toward the Hokage Tower in surprise, for that had been Tsunade's voice. Something must have _really_ startled her for her to be so loud.

In her office, the poor Jounin Gate Guard rubs his ears painfully. He had given his Hokage the letter Sakura had entrusted him with and then explained why Sakura didn't hand it in herself, only for Tsunade to scream loud enough to nearly burst his eardrums. "Haruno-san is back, but she looks like she got run over by a lawnmower, pardon my bluntness. She has so many bruises and cuts and is so covered in blood that we didn't recognize her at first. She has two particularly deep cuts, one in her right shoulder, the other in her left thigh. Both wounds have bone showing from below the blood. Her left foot was smashed, burnt, and cut up, as if she got it caught in an explosion of some sort. By how pale and tired she was, I could tell that she had walked a good distance on that foot from wherever she got injured. She said something about Grass Anbu and an attack, but fell unconscious from blood loss before she could clarify what she said. She is in the hospital now," he says dutifully, wincing when Tsunade looks like she's going to scream again.

Instead, she scowls. "Go tell Kakashi to meet me here, now. Tell him it's about Sakura," she orders. 'He's not going to like this one bit,' she thinks. 'I hope the information she protected is worth it. Otherwise even I'll start blaming myself for this, as I was the one to send her to Suna to get it.'

The Jounin bows and flickers away, going in search of the Copy Nin. Despite the fact Kakashi, Naruto, and Tsunade think otherwise, the whole village knows of his feelings for the cherry blossom maiden. And despite how much she tries to hide it, the whole village knows that she reciprocates those feelings. But no one dares let the four ninja know that it's common knowledge; two of them are extremely temperamental and the other two have unknown tempers. They may have very good self control when it comes to anger, but everyone has some point when they lose it. Naruto and Kakashi just haven't reached that point yet. Well, Naruto did reach the point several times when he was younger, but has become a lot more in-control of his emotions since then.

With Kakashi

Kakashi is at the bridge he and his ex-students meet at whenever they are going somewhere together or just want to hang out. Leaning against the rail, he turns a page in his Icha Icha. Suddenly, another Jounin comes running up. "Kakashi-san, Tsunade-sama wishes to see you immediately; it's about Sakura-san," he says quickly. The minute Sakura's name is out of the Jounin's mouth, Kakashi snaps his book closed and stuffs it in his shuriken pouch.

"What is it about?" he asks curiously, hiding his worry. The way the other man had spoken, it sounds like Sakura is in major trouble.

The Jounin shakes his head. "She just got back from an A-class retrieval mission. Tsunade-sama needs to talk to you about something that happened when Sakura-san was on her way back," he says. Before he even got halfway through the second sentence though, Kakashi had taken off for the Hokage Tower. 'He really does love her,' the Jounin thinks. He winces. 'He's not going to be happy in the least when he finds out her condition.' With a sigh, the Jounin returns to his post as Gate Guard. Everyone who meets her likes Haruno Sakura, civilians and shinobi alike. She's just that kind of woman, even if she _is_ a kunoichi.

Tsunade's office, five minutes later

"You called for me, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asks in his bored voice. Only the look in his visible eye and tense body position give away his worry.

Tsunade sighs. "Sakura-chan just got back from an A-class retrieval mission to take some important information to Suna and bring important information back. Many enemies of Konoha would kill to get their hands on the information, and I knew how good Sakura is at evading enemy attacks," she says. Kakashi nods. It's no secret that Sakura can somehow get through enemy lines in direct sight of multiple enemy nin and not get caught. Tsunade sighs again. "Somehow, she got caught by Grass Anbu who were after the information. She managed to kill her attackers and make it back to the gate. But she is in terrible condition. I'm going to check on her after we are done here. From what one of the gate guard reported, it seems that she managed to get back on a leg that has a cut in the thigh all the way to the bone. The foot of that leg appears to have been caught in a small explosion. Her shoulder also has a cut straight to the bone. From what I understand, she had to walk quite a distance from the battle scene to the gate, and the guard says she's still bleeding heavily. The guards didn't even recognize her when they first saw her."

Kakashi had fallen back into one of the chairs across from Tsunade when the Hokage started describing Sakura's numerous wounds and the severity of some of them. For Sakura to have managed to walk _any_ distance with such wounds, she has to have lost a _lot_ of blood. And from what Tsunade's implying, the pink-haired kunoichi could easily die. "Is she going to make it?" he barely whispers.

Tsunade shrugs. "All we can do is pray and hope for the best," she says softly. "Now, I'm going to go oversee the medics taking care of her. I have a feeling I'll be needed."

Kakashi nods and Tsunade leaves the office to head next door to the hospital. He stays in the chair for about fifteen minutes after she leaves, thinking about what he's been told about Sakura's condition. He then vanishes from the chair, the recently opened window showing his path of exit.

Three hours later, outside the OR

Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi look up as Tsunade walks out of the operating room covered in blood … Sakura's blood. Kakashi had informed the boys of what happened to Sakura soon after he had found out. They've been waiting outside the operating room for the past two and a half hours. "How is she?" Naruto asks hopefully.

Tsunade sighs. "She is stabilized, but she had fallen into a coma during the operation. We're not sure when she'll wake up, if she ever does," she says softly. The three men stare at Tsunade in shock. They are grateful that Sakura is no longer flirting with death. But they are shocked about her sudden comatose condition.

"Can we see her?" Sasuke asks, the first of the men to recover his voice.

"Yes, go on in," Tsunade replies, nodding her ascent. The three shinobi quickly enter the room to see their kunoichi lying impossibly still on a hospital bed. Sakura _never_ lays that still when asleep. That just drives in the fact that she's in a coma deeper into their hearts. Before they get a chance to adjust to the fact that their cherry blossom is still there but they cannot interact with her the way they always did, a few nurses come in and gently move her to a rolling bed to take her to the long term care unit on the third floor.

It was late and the men had to get to their homes. Not one of them slept that night or for many nights after. When they do sleep, they pass out from exhaustion. But none of them have good dreams; they dream of what could have happened to Sakura for her to end up in a coma.

* * *

Sarah: please don't hate or flame me! If you want to find out what happens to Sakura, REVIEW! 


	5. Two Years Later and a Plan

Sneaky Seductress

DG32173

Sarah: here's chapter 5. I'm sure you're all pissed at me for what happened to Sakura last chapter, but it happened for a very good reason. Also, I've updated this fanfic several times in the past week, so don't expect another update for a while, I've got a few chapters to write before I post the next chapter of this fic. I don't own the Naruto series.

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_You should always use past tense when writing in third person because the person witnessed it previously._ --- well, I don't really like using past tense writing for an entire story. And I pretend that what is being written is happening at that exact seconds, so I can make myself more comfortable with breaking that certain rule of writing. Past tense writing is okay for people within the story relaying what happened before that moment. But that's about all I like when it comes to past tense. But I'm always grateful for constructive criticism, so thank you for making it constructive criticism rather than a flame.

_Hopefully she'll wake up soon or something exciting will happen._ --- well, she will be in a coma for two years. And next chapter starts the really exciting part.

_**NOTE**_  
**(Authors note)  
**"Talking"  
'Thinking'  
Scene change  
**POV change  
**_Memory, reading or writing something, etc._ _**(you'll figure it out)  
**__"Singing"  
__Scene change in memory_

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

* * *

Chapter 5

Two Years Later and a Plan

Kakashi watches the beautiful kunoichi lying absolutely still on the hospital bed beside him. It has been two long years since Sakura fell into a coma after a near fatal mission; and she still hasn't awoken from it. Two days ago, he overheard Tsunade telling Jiraiya that she's going to get someone with either Sharingan or Byakugan to go into her apprentice's mind and bring her back if she doesn't wake up soon.

Two years is much too long for Konoha to be without its Cherry Blossom Angel, as almost everyone in the village calls her. No one is quite sure how Sakura got that nickname, nor when it came into existence. But everyone knows that one day about seven years ago, almost everyone she meets started calling her that. She had laughed when she heard it, saying that she's no angel. But the nickname stuck like it was super-glued to her. After three months, she gave up on trying to shake the nickname.

Kakashi hears the door to Sakura's hospital room open. "Oh, good, you're here," Tsunade says softly. "Now I won't have to have anyone hunt you down."

"What do you need me for, Tsunade-sama?" he asks, not taking his eyes off the pink-haired woman in the bed.

"I need you to use your Sharingan and enter her mind to bring her back to us," the Hokage murmurs, watching her apprentice. This time, Kakashi did twirl in his seat to stare at Tsunade in shock. "I have a feeling that this is our only hope of getting her back. I don't want her trapped in a coma until she dies, and I'm sure you don't either."

Kakashi sighs. He doesn't like going into another's mind like this; he feels it's an invasion of their ultimate privacy, the privacy of the place that holds many secrets that no one else should ever be allowed to know. It's just not right. But he also despises the thought of Sakura being trapped in her coma for the rest of her life. Finally, he nods in unwilling agreement. The thought of Sakura being trapped in her coma forever is far worse than going into her mind to retrieve her. He'll just have to be careful not to get too deep into her memories.

He raises the hitai-ate hiding his Sharingan and looks at Sakura's closed eyes. In seconds, he falls forward for his arms and head to land on her bed beside her. Tsunade sighs and covers the Copy Nin with a heavy blanket she had brought with her. No sense him getting sick while he's in her mind.

* * *

Sarah: yeah, yeah, I know. Very short chapter. But if I include what I intend on putting into the next few chapters, this document will be like a couple dozen pages long. And I don't want that to happen. 


	6. Viewing Memories

Sneaky Seductress

DG32173

Sarah: chapter 6 is here. In this chapter, Kakashi will have first entered her mind… and he will meet Inner Sakura **(laughs)**. Also, Kakashi will see some of Sakura's darkest memories. Well, I don't own the Naruto series so let's get to the chapter!

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_I thought you need to make eye contact for such a jutsu to work._ --- well, in this case, let's pretend he doesn't need to make _direct_ eye contact, just look at her eyes.

_Gotta love some uses for the Sharingan._ --- totally. **(smirks)** there will be a few naughty uses coming up.

_There are other ones we just won't mention._ --- **(laughs)** _well_ we won't mention them for _now._

_Why did Tsunade wait two years to have Kakashi dive into Sakura's mind?_ --- Tsunade knows how Kakashi is when it comes to delving into another's mind: he hates it and refuses to do it unless there is absolutely _no_ other choice. And she was hoping that Sakura would wake up on her own during that time. but she finally realized, after two years, that Sakura won't wake up without someone's help.

_**NOTE**_  
**(Authors note)  
**"Talking"  
'Thinking'  
Scene change  
**POV change  
**_Memory, reading or writing something, etc._ _**(you'll figure it out)  
**__"Singing"  
__Scene change in memory  
"Darker Personality talking"_

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

_Okaa-san:_ mother

_Otou-san:_ father

* * *

Chapter 6

Viewing Memories

Kakashi looks around the darkness around him. It seems to stretch on forever all around him, even below him. "Where do I start looking," he wonders aloud.

"About _time_ someone showed up to get her out of this coma! I'm growing _bored_ here!" a feminine voice comes from behind him. It sounds exactly like Sakura, except a bit darker in tone. Kakashi whirls around to see a woman who looks exactly like Sakura, except her hair and eyes are much darker than the Sakura he knows. "I'm Sakura's inner self, the one who says what she refuses to admit aloud," she says. "She even came up with a name for me, Kasu. Nice to finally meet you, Kakashi."

"How do you …?" he starts when she interrupts.

"I know everything Sakura knows. I can't not know it, even if I wanted to. I'm her more mischievous and flamboyant personality, so to speak," Kasu says. "And did you come to bring her back to your world or not?" she demands.

"I did," he admits.

"Well, follow me. I know every bit of her mind and where she is at any one time," she says, turning and walking in a seemingly random direction. Kakashi figures that following this 'Inner Sakura' may be the only way to get to the one he knows and quickly catches up with her. "I have to warn you though, you might not like what we'll have to go through to get to her," Kasu says softly. "I'm not the only personality she has inside her, but I try my best to keep the other one at bay. The other personality is called Dracul. He's the one who holds all of Sakura's darkest memories and he's the one who makes her feel weak and doubt herself. And don't ask me why Sakura has a male for the darkest side. The darkest side of everyone is _always_ of the opposite gender of the one who holds it. And no, I don't know why that is."

"What does this 'Dracul' do to Sakura?" Kakashi asks.

Kasu closes her eyes for a moment. Then she opens them with a look of pity. "You're about to find out," she murmurs, pointing to a gate that seems to be like a black hole, making sure that there is no light anywhere close to it, but still showing the outline of a gate somehow. "We have to go through there." Kakashi gulps. "Don't be afraid. Dracul feeds on fear and doubt. All of the darkest personalities do, it makes them stronger and harder to push back." Kakashi takes a deep, calming breath, then nods to Kasu. "Prepare yourself to be shocked," Kasu says, walking up to the gate. "Put your hand on the gate to pass through," she says, demonstrating. She seems to be absorbed by the gate. Kakashi follows her example. Once he's through, he hears a deep, dark voice talking.

"_You are weak, Sakura. You cannot hope to catch up to them. You will never catch up to them."_

As the voice talks, pictures flood the walls of what seems to be a long black corridor. The one brought up at those words shows the backs of Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke, walking away and leaving the viewer behind.

'_Please don't leave me behind. I want to be strong, like you. Please help me become stronger, please don't leave me behind.'_

Kakashi jumps as those words echo through the corridor. 'That had to have been Sakura's thoughts, these are Sakura's memories,' he realizes. 'Is that how she really feels? That we're leaving her behind?' he thinks, feeling as if someone just stabbed his heart with a kunai. It _hurts_ to think that she feels like she's being left behind by him and the boys.

"_You should give up now. You won't last much longer if you stay a ninja. Remember how you could barely beat those Grass Anbu?"_

Another memory pops up, the one that caused her to fall into the coma in the first place. She is suddenly surrounded by ten Grass Anbu.

"_Well, we have us a pretty little kunoichi here," one says. "We know you are carrying information from Suna to Konoha. Hand it over and you won't get hurt."_

'_Don't these people ever learn? The strength of a kunoichi can easily exceed her rank and looks.' "You can take it from my dead body."_

"_So be it." That had been a different Anbu talking. Then they all rush Sakura. She ducks and dodges the blows, returning blow for blow. But she still manages to get cuts and bruises._

Kakashi sees Kasu double over in pain. And feels the pain himself. "It hurts me and whoever else is in this corridor when Dracul plays memories such as these. It hurts as much as it had hurt her when these memories had taken place," she explains through gritted teeth upon seeing Kakashi's worried and pained look. But that particular memory isn't done playing yet.

_Two Anbu had been permanently taken out by her fists. The others have leaped back to avoid going down the way their comrades had and are attacking with Ninjutsu. Sakura gathers chakra to her fist and punches the ground hard, causing a large crater to form. One of the remaining Anbu dies after being struck through with a large boulder that had been turned up. Suddenly, one of the remaining Anbu rushes in to cut her shoulder with a katana. The blade makes it all the way to her bone._

This time, Kakashi also doubles over in pain while clutching his right shoulder, feeling as if someone just tried to cut off his right arm. He sees on the wall-screen that Sakura had merely winced, but continued to fight with Ninjutsu, doing the signs one-handed. He's surprised at her strength to fight back the pain and continue, even when her right arm is made absolutely useless and hanging off far enough to show bone through the pouring blood.

_Two more Anbu die. Only five left. 'You can do this Sakura, just kill these five and make it back to the village. Tsunade-shishou will take care of your wounds, just fight through the pain,'__ Sakura thinks to herself without the assistance of Kasu to boost her spirits. But she hisses in pain as another katana cuts her all the way to the left thigh bone._

Kakashi collapses, clutching his thigh, He takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. He struggles to his feet, ignoring the pain. Kasu stays on the ground, but refuses to let the pain stop her from watching Kakashi's reaction to Sakura's memories.

'_Tsunade-shishou trusted me to protect this letter, and by god, that's what I'm going to do, even if it kills me.' It takes another hour for Sakura to defeat the remaining Anbu. But as Sakura moves closer to examine the bodies, they start exploding. She leaps back but hisses in pain as her left foot gets partially caught in the blast, breaking the bones in her foot and leaving burns all over the same foot. She lands on her side. 'Dammit, they didn't have any explosives on them, or they would have used them. There must be another nin.' She suddenly senses another nin fleeing the scene. "Dammit, I can't catch up with him in this state, let alone fight him. I'll just have to let him go.'_

Kakashi has to admit that she did good to survive defeating ten Anbu all at once.

_She struggles to her feet, wincing in pain at standing on a broken foot and a leg with a wound all the way to the thigh bone. She does a quick count of her injuries sustained from the fight. 'Let's see: broken left foot, burns on the same foot, a wound going all the way to the right collarbone, similar wound going to the left thigh bone, innumerable bruises, more cuts than I care to count, broken left wrist, and possible concussion. Not bad, considering that I'm a Jounin who took on and defeated ten Anbu.' Her gaze turns back to the trail leading to Konoha gate. 'Only another twenty meters. If it were farther, I don't think I could make it. Well, Sakura, let's hobble back to Konoha to give this information to Tsunade-shishou.'_

"_You were weak, Sakura. Remember what happened when you reached the gate? You're a failure, Sakura."_

Kakashi scowls. He's getting to _hate_ that voice. He motions to Kasu that they should get moving down the corridor. She nods and painfully rises to her feet. But after a few moments of walking, their attention is again caught by the memory playing on the walls.

'_Thank god, there's the gate. Now to get there without using trees to support my weight. This is going to be hell,' Sakura thinks. She releases her grip on the tree and starts limping to the gate. Suddenly, she collapses just inside the gate, being caught by some of the Gate Guards._

"_Sakura-san? Is that you?" one of the guards gasps upon seeing her pink hair mingling with her blood._

_But Sakura is on the verge of being unconscious. She slowly and painfully reaches into her vest to pull out the letter, sealed in a waterproof package. "Give … Tsunade … Grass Anbu … attack," she manages to get out before coughing up blood and fainting._

Kakashi finds his eyes wide. "She managed to do all that? As injured as she was?" he gasps.

Kasu nods. "She's fought with every cell in her body to become strong enough to catch up to you, Sasuke, and Naruto, or at least close to it. But Dracul makes her believe she'll never catch up, never be strong enough to win a no-holds-bar spar with you or the boys," she replies softly. "He feeds on her despair, fear, and guilt."

"Guilt? What has she done to feel guilty about?" Kakashi asks in surprise.

Kasu just shakes her head. "I can't tell you, she forbids it," she sighs. "And I can't go against what she wishes no matter how hard I try. The only one who can tell you that is Sakura; even Dracul has to abide by that rule. Speaking of Dracul, we best continue before he decides to have another feast on her darker emotions. We will be immune to these things once we're out of the corridor. But Sakura won't ever be free of Dracul unless a miracle happens."

"What sort of miracle?"

Again, Kasu shakes her head. "It is part of what I am forbidden to say." She stiffens. "We best hurry, Dracul is going to start again soon," she says, speed-walking down the corridor. Kakashi quickly catches up.

"How can you tell?" Kakashi asks.

"I just know. Dracul and I somehow know what each other is about to do before we do it, but Sakura doesn't. She has no control on what we do," Kasu explains. "C'mon, there's the exit gate just ahead," she continues, pointing to a snow white gate. Kakashi and Kasu manage to get out of Dracul's corridor before his next feasting on Sakura's darker emotions. Kakashi is surprised to be in a _very_ long white corridor, longer even than Dracul's corridor. Kasu twitches. "I hate this corridor," she mutters.

"Why?"

"Despite how happy it appears, it's worse than Dracul's corridor," she says softly. "This hall holds every memory of the times Sakura was the most terrified or depressed."

As if to prove Kasu right, memories float lazily onto the walls. The first memory is from when Sakura was very young.

"_Okaa-san, where are we going?" Sakura asks nervously, looking around._

"_It's alright, Saku-chan, we just have to go see Hokage-sama," a woman's voice says, out of Sakura's line of sight. "He wants to see you."_

"_Why would Hokage-sama want to see me?" Sakura asks, fear taking over. 'Hokage-sama _never_ wants to see young academic students. So why would he want to see me? Did I do something bad? Am I going to get in trouble?'_

"She was an academic student?" Kakashi asks in surprise.

Kasu nods. "Before this memory happened, she was. She was only five at the time of this memory. This is the memory that turned her onto the ninja path," she replies. They turn back to viewing the memory.

"_It's alright Saku-chan, Hokage-sama just wants to talk with you, you're not in trouble," her mother reassures her._

"_Oh," Sakura says. She opens her mouth to ask another question when a bomb blows up to her left. She and her mother are blown apart, in opposite directions. Sakura is about to stand up from where she hit a wall when the building she hit blows up. "AAAAAAHH!" she cries out in fear before being cut off by large parts of the building landing around her, a smaller part hitting her on the head. She faints instantly._

Kakashi's eyes widen in shock. He remembers that day very well. Some assassins were blowing up the marketplace to kill a high profile civilian. Kakashi was still an Anbu then, at only nineteen. He and his squad were sent out with multiple other squads to find any survivors beneath the wreckage the marketplace had turned into. Many buildings around the marketplace were destroyed as it had been, falling onto the marketplace, the helpless civilians, and a few off-duty nin there, burying them alive. Many died before the Anbu squads could get to them. One of the few survivors, though, was a young girl covered in dust and her own blood that he had found. He couldn't make out her hair color through all the dust and blood, but she had beautiful emerald eyes. Could it be…?

_Slowly blinking her eyes, Sakura tries to sit up, only to find she is pinned under a particularly large slab of concrete, piles of bricks on either side of her keeping the concrete from crushing her to death. She whimpers as her right arm decides to let her know very painfully that it had been injured. She starts crying when she figures out she's stuck and that her mother is nowhere near her. "Okaa-san, where are you?" she cries out. But no one responds. "Okaa-san?" she tries again. "Anybody?" she cries out. "Help me! I'm stuck!"_

"_I think I hear someone over here," a distant voice says from far above her._

_Sakura's ears perk slightly. "HELP!" she screams louder. 'Please find me, don't leave me down here,' she thinks fearfully._

"_I heard someone too. Sounds like a young girl. We better get her outta there," another distant voice says._

_Then everything is quiet for a long time, feeling as if hours are crawling by. After at least three hours, pinpricks of light start flowing down through the debris surrounding Sakura. She forces herself out of the half sleep she had fallen into when she hears someone's voice, much closer than earlier. "Kami, she's been quiet for a long time. I hope we don't lose her too," a male voice says._

_Sakura opens her mouth to try to call for help again, but all that comes out is a hacking cough. She clears her throat and tries again. "Help!" she manages to cry out. But it's so soft, she's afraid they didn't hear her._

"_Did you hear that?" a female voice asks._

"_She's still down there; but something sounds wrong with her voice. We should try to get to her quickly," another male says. This one sounded slightly younger than the other two._

"_Help me," she cries out, slowly fading into darkness. She fights the approaching darkness, somehow knowing that if it came, she wouldn't be alive when the people above find her._

"_It sounds like she's just below us, below that concrete slab," the female voice says. "I hope it doesn't crush her when we try to move it."_

"_You two lift the concrete, I'll get her out," that younger male voice says._

Kakashi gasps, recognizing his own voice from when he had been nineteen. So it _was_ Sakura that he had rescued all those years ago.

_Sakura feels the weight of the concrete slowly being lifted off of her. She suddenly lets out a pained whimper when a previously unknown wound on her stomach reveals itself. The concrete is now completely off of her and she sees a mask above her. Her eyes slowly close as the masked ninja, for that's what he _had_ to be, takes off his mask to inspect her wounds more closely. She sees mix-matched eyes staring down at her before her eyes completely close. Just before the darkness she fought so hard against takes over, she thinks, 'I want to be a ninja and help and protect people, like he does …'_

Kakashi takes a step back from the wall, surprised at looking into his own eyes through Sakura's memory. _He_ had been the one to inspire Sakura to take the path of the ninja? Before he has a chance to digest this little tidbit, another memory takes the place of the previous one.

"_Okaa-san, wake up," Sakura sobs, shaking her mother. But it's plain to see that the woman won't ever wake up, as a large wound going straight through her chest is oozing what little blood the woman has left in her body. "Please, okaa-san, wake-up!"_

"_She won't be waking up anytime soon, kid. She won't ever be waking up again," a slurred male voice says,_

_Sakura looks up to glare at a tall, drunken man standing over her and her mother. Her hair, face, and arms are covered in her mother's blood, while she is crouched in a large pool of blood beside the dead woman. "Why'd you kill her?" she demands. The man just leers at her in a way that makes her very uncomfortable, even though she doesn't know what the expression means. But she doesn't show him that he's making her fidgety._

Kakashi instantly recognizes the look on the man's face, even if Sakura hadn't recognized it at the time. It was a look of pure lust and greediness. For the man to use that look on Sakura, it makes Kakashi's blood boil. But he can't do anything about it, as what he is seeing is a memory of Sakura's that happened years ago.

_The man reaches out his hand and grabs her arm. She struggles and kicks as he pulls her to him. "Well, since your okaa-san wouldn't play, I guess you'll have to do," he says, smirking as her struggles increase. She screams as loud as she can, only to be slapped across the room by the man. "Shut up, little bitch," he snarls._

"_Leave her alone!" another voice yells from behind the man._

"_Otou-san," Sakura whimpers, running to hide behind her father's legs. "He killed Okaa-san."_

"_I see," her father murmurs, using his hand to hold his daughter behind him. "Get out of our house now, or you won't like what happens," he growls at the intruder._

"_Heh, wanna bet?" the drunk says._

_The man doesn't realize that Sakura's father is an Anbu of leaf. Mere seconds after the words leave the drunk's mouth, he is laying on the ground, dead. "Otou-san," Sakura whimpers. "He's scary."_

_Her father gathers her in a hug. "Don't worry, Saku-chan, he won't hurt anyone ever again," he murmurs into her hair. "Now go upstairs, I'll clean up down here."_

Kakashi sighs in relief. He had been afraid the drunk would do something horrible to Sakura. He looks at Kasu when she speaks up after such a long time of silence. "We should get moving. The longer we stand around, the more likely she is to move," she says softly. Kakashi nods.

* * *

Sarah: I'll end it here. There will be more memories coming up next chapter too, so don't be too disappointed.


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